Category: News (Page 10 of 40)

      Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Odds: Barnett, Silva Favored

      September 4, 2011 /

      nullThe semifinals of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix takes place this upcoming Saturday night and we have the latest odds on the big matchups.

      Bullz-Eye.com has the odds for the two semifinal contests, which features Josh Barnett and Segei Kharitonov and Daniel Cormier taking on Antonio Silva.

      Barnett walks into his bout as the favorite with a betting line of -280 against Kharitonov, who has odds of +220. Barnett (30-5) is coming off a second-round submission win over Brett Rogers while Kharitonov (18-4) knocked out Andrei Arlovski in less than three minutes of his quarterfinal match.

      In this semifinal, Barnett has the grappling edge while Kharitonov appears to have the KO power in his striking. Whoever can dictate the location of the fight will likely get the victory.

      In the other semifinal, Silva (16-2) is the favorite to win with odds of -175 while his opponent Cormier (8-0), has odds of +145 to win. Silva defeated Fedor Emelinanenko by second round TKO to reach the semifinals while Cormier is filling in for Alistair Overeem, who was removed from the tournament due to his unwillingness to fight in September because of an injury.

      Cormier is a strong wrestler with some good submission skills while Silva has started to put together a complete fight game. Silva has big punches and a smother grappling style. He looked the most impressive of any fighter in the quarterfinals, but now fights somewhat of an unknown in Cormier, who has just eight pro fights.

      The Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix will take place from the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati on Saturday. The show will air live on Showtime at 10PM ET.

      Betting Odds, Events, Fighters, News, Strikeforce

      Velasquez vs. dos Santos to headline UFC on FOX

      September 2, 2011 /

      nullThe UFC wanted a premiere fight for its FOX television premiere and that is just what it has.

      Dana White announced via conference all on Friday that Cain Velasquez will defend his UFC heavyweight championship against top contender, Junior dos Santos, on Nov. 12 to headline the show.

      The fight was originally scheduled to take place on Nov. 19 as the headline of UFC 139 from San Jose, but will now take place at The Pond in Anaheim.

      White also indicated that this is the only fight scheduled for the 1-hour FOX premiere and if the fight ends quickly, they will air undercard bouts that took place earlier in the night.

      Velasquez hasn’t fought since winning the championship from Brock Lesnar last October. He is 9-0 in his career.

      Dos Santos is 13-1 and coming off a dominant win over Shane Carwin at UFC 131 in June. He has clearly established himself as being the top contender for Velasquez.

      While these two may not be the highest-profile of fighters to the outside MMA fan, this is an amazing fight to get on free television.

      The UFC is hoping for fireworks for this bout to really draw in a big audience and take the UFC to a new level. Hopefully this fight does just that.

      The new main event for UFC 139 has yet to be announced but White indicated that it was in the works.

      Events, Fighters, News, UFC

      Shields to fight Sept. 17 despite loss of father

      August 31, 2011 /

      nullI am not the biggest Jake Shields fan in the world.

      But, I have to give the guy a lot of credit.

      Shields will stick with his upcoming bout against Jake Ellenberger on Sept. 17 despite losing his father, Jack, at the age of 67 on Tuesday.

      MMAFighting.com first reported that Shields would be fighting in a few weeks.

      Jake Shields has decided to go through with his Sept. 17 fight against Jake Ellenberger at UFC Fight Night 25 following the recent death of his father and manager, Jack Shields. MMA Fighting confirmed the fighter’s decision with UFC officials.

      GracieFighter.com broke the news of Jack Shields’ passing on Tuesday. He was 67 years old.

      No word just yet on the cause of death. According to Sherdog.com, Shields died in his sleep on Monday at his Sacramento, Calif., home.

      “Lost my father manager and one of my best friends today!! R.I.P jack you will be greatly missed and loved by many,” Shields was quoted as saying on the Web site.

      I am fortunate to still have my father alive and well, but just the sheer thought of him passing away is enough for me to not want to do anything the rest of the day.

      I am sure this is a tough time for Jake and I wish him my best as he goes through this period. I also give him a lot of respect for taking the fight with Ellenberger. It is a dangerous fight for him but I am sure he will have a lot of support going into the contest.

      Events, Fighters, News, UFC

      Jones denies spying claims from Jackson

      August 30, 2011 /

      nullIt didn’t take long for Jon Jones to respond to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s accusations of spying.

      According to MMAFighting.com, Jones took to the internet to deny the spying rumors.

      Addressing Jackson directly via Twitter, Jones said he would never cheat because he has too much respect for mixed martial arts — and Jones suggested that makes himself different from Jackson.

      “Just so you know, I’m not a person who looks for shortcuts in life. Unlike you, MMA is not something I do because of money,” Jones wrote. “It’s a way of life for me and I would never disrespect the integrity of that.”

      It sounds like this issue may be more about Jackson’s camp and teammates rather than anything Jones is doing.

      If Jackson can’t trust his teammates, it is going to distract him from being ready for Jones come fight night in September.

      On a side note, this fight continues to pick up intrigue and is quickly developing into a nice rivalry that has left the Jones vs. Rashad Evans talk on the backburner.

      Events, Fighters, News, UFC

      Rampage Jackson accuses Jon Jones of spying

      August 30, 2011 /

      nullAthletes always want to get an edge.

      In MMA, there are the old classics of greasing and PED’s, but it appears there may be a new method breaking into the fold.

      UFC 135 headliner, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson did an interesting interview with Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports in which he accuses light heavyweight champion and upcoming opponent, Jon Jones, of having a spy in Jackson’s camp.

      Not only that, but Jackson also claims that he had a rat in his camp when he took on Rashad Evans.

      Jackson said in an interview with Yahoo! Sports on Monday that he made up a story about having a hand injury last week. Yet, four hours after he mentioned the story in his gym, he said his manager received a call from UFC matchmaker Joe Silva asking about it.

      Jackson said he first became wary about a spy in his camp during the days prior to his May 29, 2010, fight at UFC 114 in Las Vegas with Rashad Evans. He said he injured his knee in training, but kept it quiet and let no one know. He was pleased when the injury never found its way into the media.

      Yet, Jackson said that during the fight, Evans punched him repeatedly on the injured knee.

      “In all my years of fighting, I’d never been punched in the knee before and I never saw anyone punch someone in the knee,” Jackson said.

      These are some pretty strong accusations, but intriguing nonetheless.

      If I were a member of Jackson’s camp, I would be pretty nervous right now. It’s like something out of The Departed.

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      Events, Fighters, News, UFC

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